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PBL: Assessment as Learning

The assessment tools we developed for our PBL project were centered around student input. The “As I See It” evaluation allows for students to express what they need to learn, the approach to learning they plan on taking and what they expect to accomplish. This touches upon the aspects of student articulation and ownership of their work. Another formative assessment we chose was a class discussion. However, the format of this has not been decided. I think this might be an area where we can take student input in how they best feel the discussions should be conducted. Thus, each class that does this project might take it in a different direction. This article in Edutopia by Dr. Richard Curwin offers 5 suggestions for livening up the class discussion. Finally, the learning checklist is the weekly tasks that each group must complete in order to keep their project moving forward. While this is not learner focused, it is a on-going, publicized performance target.

Our summative assessments are the video presentation that each group will create to demonstrate how to solve a particular type of GED problem and the actual GED Ready – the official practice test for the GED. For test security reasons, we can not provide access to the actual questions on the GED Ready, but we have provided links to sample questions that are similar in scope. Since the overriding goal is for students to pass the GED, these videos will become valuable tools for the students (and future students) to use to serve this purpose.

I think one part that we might need to include is more documentation by students of things they have accomplished along the way. Whether they use journals, learning logs, VLOGS or some other tool, the students need to express what they are learning, have accomplished, still need to accomplish and ask any questions they need answers to in order to move forward. Maybe the classroom discussions will serve this purpose, but I think adding this step beforehand will make the discussions move along more smoothly.

This entire process is a large change for my teaching style. With the previous GED Mathematics test, which was 80% multiple choice, my focus was on getting students to learn what they needed to pass the test. In some cases, this involved test taking skills that weren’t math specific. Now, with the change in test structure, students must be cognizant of the necessary Mathematical skills they need to pass the test. They can’t just plug in numbers and use trial and error. Therefore, individual learning differences matter so much more and I need to take that into account when helping each student. On the old test, pretty much, one type of strategy per problem worked. Now, students need to be able, more than ever, to express if they are understanding the problem, how to solve them and why the solutions work.